Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of benefit claimants receiving over-payments on their mental health; and what steps his Department is taking to support claimants that need to re-pay over-payments.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Where overpayments occur, we have a duty to recover taxpayers’ money as quickly and efficiently as possible, without causing hardship to those making repayments. DWP remains committed to working with anyone who is struggling with repayments terms and encourage anyone who is experiencing such difficulty to contact DWP Debt Management to discuss their circumstances.
Claimants who do contact Debt Management, are routinely referred to the Money Advisor Network, who work in partnership with DWP to offer free independent and impartial money and debt advice. We also remain committed to His Majesty’s Treasury’s Beathing Space policy, which provides those with problem debt the right to legal protections from creditor action for a period of 60 days to enable them to receive debt advice and enter into an appropriate debt solution.
In exceptional circumstances, where there are specific and compelling grounds to do so, a waiver can be considered. Full details on this can be found at Chapter 8 of the Department’s Benefit Overpayment Recovery Guide: Benefit overpayment recovery guide - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an estimate of the number of convictions relating to cryptocurrency offences in each of the last five years.
Answered by Gareth Bacon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of offenders found guilty of criminal offences in England and Wales, up to June 2023, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-june-2023.
Information on whether offenders were convicted for offences relating to cryptocurrency is not held by the Ministry of Justice, as this may appear under various offences, such as fraud or money laundering.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has had discussions with the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland on the provision of social housing.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN 12441 on 7 February 2024.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of reforming university funding models to reduce dependence on the income of international students.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
It is important that there is a sustainable system to support students and support higher education (HE) that is responsive to the needs of the labour market and the wider economy, and that is fair to students and fair to taxpayers. The government keeps the higher education (HE) funding system under continuous review to ensure that it remains sustainable and provides many different opportunities for learners to acquire vital skills. Longer-term funding plans for the HE sector will be set out at the next multi-year Spending Review, in line with the approach to long-term public spending commitments across government.
In 2021/22, the total income of the HE sector in England was £40.8 billion, up from £28 billion in 2014/15, including £8.8 billion income from international student fees. Of the £40.8 billion, approximately £16 billion was provided by the government. Over the current spending review period, both the Department for Education and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology are investing £1.3 billion in capital funding to support teaching and research.
The department is proud that the UK is home to some of the world’s top universities who benefit from strong international ties, so much so that the UK HE system has educated 58 of current and recent world leaders and has 4 out of the top 10 globally ranked universities. Attracting the brightest students internationally is good for the UK’s universities and delivers growth at home.
Education policy is a devolved matter, and different HE funding arrangements apply in the devolved administrations.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of taking steps to increase the number of civil servants working from the office.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Research into workplace practices across all sectors was undertaken which confirmed the clear benefits of face to face, workplace based collaborative working, which led to agreement across government for such an approach. That's why I set out the expectation for staff to be in the office at least 60% of the time, and I believe that our senior civil servants need to set an example as leaders.
There are significant benefits from spending time working together in person, either within teams, with colleagues from the same department or – in Government hubs – with colleagues from other departments. These include collaboration, innovation and fostering a sense of community. We know that in particular junior colleagues benefit from having time face to face with senior leaders and that those early in their careers find working face to face with their peers and managers makes them more effective more quickly.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to improve diagnosis of anaemia in women.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There is information available from NHS Choices to support the identification of symptoms related to anaemia, which advises individuals to seek general practitioner (GP) advice should they experience those symptoms.
GPs exercise their clinical judgement with support from relevant guidance to arrange appropriate tests and investigations that may lead to a diagnosis, such as blood tests to assess the full blood count, which may highlight indicators of anaemia. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s Clinical Knowledge Summaries website also provides guidance on testing and treatment of all types of anaemia.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to protect retailers from shoplifting.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Since 2010 our communities are safer, with neighbourhood crimes including burglary, robbery and theft from the person down 48% and overall violent crime down 44%, and more police officers on the streets than in 2010.
However, there has been a worrying rise in shoplifting and violence towards retail workers, which we are taking action to address. The Government’s plan – "Fighting Retail Crime: more action" was launched on 10 April. It includes a new standalone offence for assaults on retail workers, which will be introduced via the Criminal Justice Bill, currently before Parliament.. We are working with police and businesses to roll out the latest facial recognition to catch these perpetrators; championing good practice to design out crime; and making it easier for retailers to report crime.
We will also legislate through the Criminal Justice Bill, to introduce a presumption towards electronic monitoring as part of a sentence served in the community for those who repeatedly steal from shops.
The Government’s action plan builds on the police-led Retail Crime Action Plan, launched in October 2023, which includes a commitment to prioritise police attendance at the scene where violence has been used towards shop staff, where an offender has been detained by store security, and where evidence needs to be secured and can only be done by police personnel. Additionally, where CCTV or other digital images are secured, police will run this through the Police National Database to aid efforts to identify prolific offenders or potentially dangerous individuals. Early indications suggest that there has been improved police attendance at the retail crime incidents prioritised. This has been echoed by major retailers.
Police forces across England and Wales have also committed to pursuing any available evidence where there is a reasonable chance it could lead them to catching a perpetrator and solving a crime and this includes shoplifting. These are substantial operational policing commitments, which I am overseeing delivery of through the National Retail Crime Steering Group.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to improve waiting times for treatment for osteoporosis patients.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our aim is that 95% of patients needing a diagnostic check receive it within six weeks, by March 2025. As of April 2024, there are 160 community diagnostic centres (CDCs) currently operational that have delivered over seven million additional tests since July 2021. Some of these CDCs will offer bone density scans, also known as dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scans, which can be used to diagnose or assess patients’ risk of osteoporosis. There are 22 CDCs already providing DEXA scans across England, as of March 2024.
From 2022/23 to 2024/25, the Government is spending more than £11.3 billion to support elective recovery and tackle long waiting times, which could deliver nine million more checks and procedures to help support patients with conditions like osteoporosis.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to reduce A&E waiting times.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our Delivery plan for recovering urgent and emergency care services sets out the range of measures being taken to improve accident and emergency waiting times. The plan is available at the following link:
Backed by £1 billion of dedicated funding, the National Health Service delivered 5,000 additional core hospital beds in 2023/24, and will maintain this capacity expansion in 2024/25, to support patient flow through hospitals. Accident and emergency waiting times improved year-on-year in 2023/24 for the first time since 2009/10, not including the first year of the pandemic. The NHS Planning Guidance, published in March 2024, commits to further improvements in emergency care performance in 2024/25, with more information available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/operational-planning-and-contracting/
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, if his Department will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the religious dimension of the recent attacks against Christians by (a) jihadist groups and (b) Fulani militants in (i) Northern Nigeria and (ii) the Middle Belt.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
In North East Nigeria, terrorist groups like Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa have sought to undermine the right to Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) by attacking those who do not subscribe to their extremist views. Separately, intercommunal violence and criminal banditry in the North West and Middle Belt has a devastating effect on all faith and non-faith communities, including Christians. The root causes of this intercommunal violence are often complex, and include competition over resources and disruption to traditional ways of life created by environmental degradation, in addition to religious factors. The Strengthening Peace and Resilience in Nigeria programme (SPRiNG) will support Nigeria to address the root causes of conflict in the Middle Belt, including natural resource management challenges. The programme will aim to help 1.5 million women and men benefit from reduced violence in their communities, and support 300,000 people to better adapt to the effects of environmental degradation.